An amazing week!

Well, all kinds of stuff has happened this week, and in no particular order here it is:

• I found a pair of posh straight leg slacks that actually fit.
• Same trousers are actually long enough 
• I found a pair of shoes - yes SHOES to wear with posh trousers
• Grumpy Trousers has agreed to us having a holiday
• As a result of him agreeing to holiday I am booking Fuertaventura in the Canary Islands
• Now having a crisis about whether hotel v. apartment or self catering v. bed and breakfast
• Actually I don't care, just having a holiday will be good.
• I've set a budget for the holiday and will TRY and stick to it

It's my beautiful younger daughter's 35th birthday today.  I got her tickets to see Jools Holland so she took Grumpy Trousers with her, who was very chuffed about that.  Jools was actually appearing in here in Chesterfield at a local venue but it was standing only, so I opted out.  There's no way I can stand for hours on end.  They thoroughly enjoyed it and were full of it when I picked them up.  Much as I like Jools Holland, I like his sidekick Ruby Turner better.  She's the Momma of Blues and Soul and puts everything into her performances.  I was gutted not to see her, but if they come back I'll make sure I'm OK to go.

Another big thing this week has been younger daughter and me doing a fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support.  On TV there are adverts for The World's Biggest Coffee Morning.  Well, we turned ours into a Coffee Evening at our local village pub.  She and I baked cakes for several weeks in advance, froze them and iced them on the day.  We touted local businesses for vouchers and prizes for the raffle, put together sweepstakes for guessing how many beans in a jar, and also had a book sale.  We had a brilliant night with friends from far and wide together with local villagers.  Everyone waded in and helped, resulting in a great total of £363!  My village should be proud of itself for its kindness and generosity.

Here's a picture of the showstopper cake that my daughter made.  It was definitely chocolate overload, but then, its Cadbury's so there's nothing wrong with that, is there?

I have to confess I am completely wiped out with tiredness now after such a big event, and thankfully have nothing on my calendar this week.

Do stop by and say hello.  I feel I've been talking to myself again for a while.

xxxxxx

It's been a funny old week..............

Hey you!  How are you doing?  I hope all's well in your household, and if you're in the UK are you making the best of this warm and wet summer?

Did it chuck it down in your neck of the woods tonight?  We had a belter of a storm together with so much rain.  There'll be Floody Hell's all over Britain again after this.  I'm not going to dwell on that. We need something cheerful and positive to focus on don't we?

I'm bullet listing below some of the positive stuff that's happened in  my life this week.

• Had an interview on Monday for a volunteer role with the RVS to be a member of the Home Library Service.  I was chuffed to bits to be accepted.  This is to visit housebound people to help them return and choose new library books, CD's and DVD's.  Apparently there's a great demand for the service and I'm looking forward to getting started.

• Not only have I managed to secure that, I've also been asked by them if I'd be interested in Community Driving.  This is taking people to doctor's, dentist or hospital appointments.

• Not done yet......because my IT skills are up to date, there's a huge need for tutors to help older people set up their emails and Skype.  I especially like the idea of this, if I can help even one person to communicate with their friends and family then I'll have done a good job.

• On Tuesday, I had the cortisone injection in my hip.  It felt a bit fragile immediately after, and the physio guy said sit would be about 48 hours before it kicked in.  I was also instructed to take it easy for a few days and not do anything to aggravate it, i.e. digging the garden (fat chance), or going hiking (even fatter chance).  When I got home, Grumpy Trousers announced we were short of a few bits and bobs from the supermarket.  I reminded him that I have to take it easy, and promptly wrote him a shopping list together with a route plan of Morrisons.  Bless him he got all the right stuff - and two cream cakes as well. 

• Grumpy Trousers and I spent a full morning out in Chesterfield yesterday, mainly for me to return some forms to the library, then afterwards browsing the flea market.  There's so much intriguing stuff on there, and it would definitely take a full day to get round it. I got tired quickly though and my hip ached a bit so we called it a day.  We later had lunch with our younger daughter.  She went back to work and us lazy sods went home for a nap!

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I've been busy decorating jars and bottles again.  There's a new batch destined for a friend's 90th birthday party, some for my elder daughter and I'm holding some back for using at a fund raiser I'm doing for The World's Biggest Coffee Morning for Macmillan nurses.

I've popped a few images on here so you can see what I've been doing, and it will also explain why my hair is full of raffia bits and my fingers are flaky with lumps of dried up PVA glue!

Friends are being so brilliant at saving all manner of jars and bottles for me to play with.  The one with the butterfly label above is a Shippams Beef Spread jar for example.  The square one at the top that looks like an inkwell had preserved fruits in it, and I think the rest are mayonnaise jars.  I'm in another zone when I sit quietly doing my crafts.  I have some relaxing  music on and all feels right with the world.

Oh, and I've had a right old issue with my car that needs a post all of its own.  I'll be ranting - be warned.

For now though, I do hope there's a good weekend ahead for you.

Hasta la vista xxxxxx